Chapter 2

Torchwood Revisited

Torchwood House.

Near the Glen of Saint Catherine.

Cairngorms, Scotland.

Sir Robert MacLeish looked out of an upstairs window with a heavy heart as he saw the royal coach and mounted soldiers enter the cobbled courtyard of his ancestral home. On any other occasion he would have been overjoyed to receive a visit from the queen. His wife Isobel would have shone as a perfect host. The sight of the coach invoked childhood memories of the visits of Prince Albert to his father's observatory in the attic of the tower.

Those were happier times, when his father George, would work on the unusual telescope with the Prince Consort, Albert of Saxe Coburg, who would visit when holidaying at Balmoral Castle to the north west. Today though, Isobel was being held with the serving staff in the cellars by the monks from Saint Catherine's Monastery. There was something else in the cellar also. Something in a cage. Something unnatural. Something deadly.

Sir Robert took a hesitant breath. 'I can't do this. It's treason,' he told the bald headed monk behind him, who was dressed as a butler. He had introduced himself as Father Angelo, the Prior of the monastery in the adjacent glen.

'Then your wife will suffer the consequences. And believe me, Sir Robert, she will be devoured,' Angelo said with quiet menace into Robert's ear. 'Now, go and greet your queen.'

Robert gave him a defiant stare before heading downstairs to the main entrance. 'If any harm befalls my wife . . .' He left the sentence unfinished, leaving the renegade monk to imagine what what fate would befall him.

'If you follow my instructions, then no harm will come to your wife and staff. Remember, no warnings or coded messages.'

'Yes. I know.' Robert stepped out into the courtyard, where two more monks, dressed as serving staff, stood either side of the doors.

'Your Majesty,' Robert said with a respectul bow.

'Sir Robert. My apologies for the emergency,' Victoria said in greeting. 'And how is Lady Isobel?'

'She's indisposed, I'm afraid. She's gone to Edinburgh for the season. And she's taken the cook with her. The kitchens are barely stocked. I wouldn't blame Your Majesty if you wanted to ride on,' Robert replied, trying to make the house as unappealing as possible without actually warning them off. If the queen chose to leave of her own accord, then he could hardly be blamed for that, could he?

'Oh, not at all. I've had quite enough carriage exercise. And this is charming, if rustic,' Victoria said kindly. 'It's my first visit to this house. My late husband spoke of it often. The Torchwood Estate. Now, shall we go inside? Oh, and we have a family from London travelling with us. I hope you don't mind.'

Robert nodded. 'Of course not Ma'am.' And then saw Rose help the children out of the carriage. 'You have children!' Robert said with a hint of alarm in his voice.

John wandered over with his hands in his pockets. 'Is that a problem?'

Robert glanced at Angelo before looking back at John. 'Er, no. Not really. It's just that we don't have any facilities to entertain children.'

John gave him a grin and looked back at his family. 'Oh, they're good kids. They'll entertain themselves. They've got great imaginations. A big old house like this; they'll make up all sorts of stories.' He leaned in close to Robert and lowered his voice. 'They'll probably make up a story about your scary butler being some kind of mad monk or something.'

Robert straightened up and looked surprised. 'What?'

John just smiled and waggled his eyebrows knowingly.

'Shall we proceed?' Victoria asked, and moved through the main entrance to the cool interior.

'Makerson and Ramsey,' Reynolds called out. 'You will escort the property. Hurry up.'

'Yes, sir,' the two soldiers responded. They took a small locked box from the carriage and carried it into the house.

['Is that the Koh-I-Noor in there?'] Rose asked in John's head.

['Yeah. That'd be it. He was very cagey about it before. Let's try again.'] 'So what's in there, then?' he asked Reynolds.

'Property of the Crown. You will dismiss any further thoughts, sir. The rest of you go to the rear of the house. Assume your designated positions.'

['Yep! That's it.']

'You heard the orders. Positions,' a sergeant ordered.

'Sir!' the soldiers answered and moved out.

Rose felt a shiver down her spine as the entered the house, remembering her time in the original Torchwood House, in the original universe.

John grinned at the stoney faced Angelo as he went past. 'All right big fellah?'

Angelo nodded politely.

'You don't have a taller brother do you? Works in the service of a family called Addams?' John asked. Angelo just looked at him with the same stoney expression. 'What was his name? Lurch! That was it.' John looked away and went into the house.

['Is is wise to antagonise the bad guys?'] Rose thought to him.

['If it unsettles them, then yeah. Best to keep them off balance.']

['So, if I remember correctly, Queen Vic is goin' to ask to see the telescope next,'] Rose thought.

'Sir Robert. My husband spoke often of your father's work. I would very much like to see what drew him here so often,' Victoria said on cue.

['Told ya,'] Rose gloated.

'Of course Ma'am. It's in the Observatory in the attic of the tower,' Robert said. 'This way.' He led them down a passageway.

['The power of prediction. It's as if you know what's going to happen next,'] John thought with a grin.

EJ's eyes lit up. 'They have their own observatory? Wicked!'

Rose was continuing her mental conversation over the verbal exchange. ['I did know what happens next, but I'm hoping that's goin' to change.']

'In what way is an astronomical observatory wicked?' Victoria asked EJ as they climbed the stairs.

['Oh yes it's going to change. And we're the ones who are going to change it!']

EJ was stumped by the queen's question. 'Erm . . .'

'I'm sorry Ma'am. It's the young people's way of speaking these days,' Rose explained. 'My son means that the anticipation of such excitement feels wicked.'

['Ooh, nice,'] John complimented.

['Nice one Mum,'] EJ thought to her.

['Yeah. Way to go Mum,'] Juleshka added.

Rose was feeling quite pleased with herself. ['Thank you.']

'Well. Let us hope the young man can curb his excitement so that we can avoid any wickedness,' Victoria said with a hint of humour in her voice.

Sir Robert opened a door at the top of the stairs and led them into a large, square room with a glass roof. A large bronze telescope sat opposite the door, poking through the glass roof to the heavens beyond.

'This, I take it, is the famous Endeavour,' Victoria said.

'All my father's work,' Robert told her. 'Built by hand in his final years. Became something of an obsession. He spent his money on this rather than caring for the house or himself.'

'That is SO cool,' EJ said in awe, and then looked at the queen. 'Er, the metal. It must be cool, stickin' outside like that.'

['Nice recovery Son,'] John thought to him. 'I wish I'd met him. I like him. That thing's beautiful. Can I?' he asked Sir Robert, gesturing towards the telescope.

'Help yourself.'

John approached the telescope with his son by his side, both eager to examine the fine example of victorian engineering. Rose, Juleshka and Jason moved to look at the aiming mechanism. 'What did he model it on?'

'I know nothing about it,' Robert told him. 'To be honest, most of us thought him a little, shall we say, eccentric. I wish now I'd spent more time with him and listened to his stories.'

John and Rose confirmed that it was exactly the same as the "telescope" in the other Torchwood House in the old universe. 'Interesting design, don't you think son?' John asked.

'Yeah. It doesn't seem to be configured as an optical telescope at all. It seems more like a light collector for gathering and concentrating specific wavelengths of light.'

John looked at Rose, and she could see he was fit to explode with pride. He affectionately ruffled EJ's hair. 'Good lad.'

'It's beautifully made,' Juleshka observed.

'Quite so,' Victoria agreed. 'And the imagination of it should be applauded.'

Rose could see Father Angelo and his monks listening by the door. What if they realised the true function of the telescope and disabled it? She tried to steer the conversation away from its true purpose 'It appears to be nothing more than a folly, A fanciful device.'

Victoria frowned. 'This device surveys the infinite work of God. What could be finer? Sir Robert's father was an example to us all. A polymath, steeped in astronomy and sciences, yet equally well versed in folklore and fairytales.'

'Stars and magic,' John said, winking at EJ. 'I like him more and more.'

'Oh, my late husband enjoyed his company. Prince Albert himself was acquainted with many rural superstitions, coming as he did from Saxe Coburg,' Victoria said.

'That's Bavaria, children,' Rose explained.

Victoria turned to Sir Robert. 'When Albert was told about your local wolf, he was transported.'

John remembered the direction of the conversation. 'So, what's this wolf, then?'

Robert's face blanched. 'It's just a story,' he said nervously.

'Then tell it,' John prompted, watching Father Angelo.

Robert hesitantly started the tale. 'It's said that . . .'

'Excuse me, sir,' Angelo interrupted. 'Perhaps her Majesty's party could repair to their rooms. It's almost dark.'

'Why?' John asked, giving Angelo his icy stare. 'What happens when it gets dark?'

Robert ignored the confrontation and forced his lips into a smile that didn't reach his eyes. 'Of course. Yes, of course.'

'And then supper. We shall dine at seven, and talk some more of this wolf. After all, there is a full moon tonight,' Victoria said with a hint of mischief in her voice.

'So there is, Ma'am,' Robert agreed, trying to keep the smile on his face.


Rose had taken the children to Lady Isobel's bedroom, and they were sitting on the bed. 'Okay kids, that's enough adventuring for one day. Me and yer dad have got to go to work.'

'Hey. I've just realised, you'll be doin' Torchwood stuff in Torchwood House,' EJ said with a cheeky grin.

Rose gave him a wry smile. 'Yeah, very witty. Now, let's get you safe and sound.'

['Heads up Love. I think trouble's on the way,'] she felt John think in her head.

['Yeah. Last time there were two of 'em who jumped us. I'll take care of it,'] she thought back.

She took her smart phone out of her Victorian purse, and selected the TARDIS app. The bedroom filled with the familiar sound of time and space being warped out of shape to allow the TARDIS to elbow its way into the room. They went inside, through the console room and into the kitchen / dining room, where Rose programmed the food replicator to produce their supper.

'Okay kids. You've just got time to wash your hands and your meals will be ready.'

Whilst the children went to wash their hands, Rose went to the wardrobe to change into her Torchwood uniform, and collect a gun-like fire extinguisher, similar to the one she and Mickey had used against clockwork robots on a derelict spaceship.

Outside the TARDIS, in the grand house, the monks dressed as butlers were handing out hot beverages to the redcoat soldiers who were stationed in the hallways and around the grounds. The beverages however, had an extra ingredient, added by the monks to further their plans.

Rose returned to the dining room, where the children were sat at the table waiting to be fed. She dished out the meals and poured glasses of Vitex for each of them.

'Once you've finished eating you can watch TV for an hour, and then it's time for bed. Okay?' Rose said.

'Oh do we have to?' they moaned in unison as they ate.

Rose smiled at them. 'Welll. An hour and a half then. But then it's definitely time for bed.'

'Yay!'

She went around the table and gave each of them a kiss. 'See you all later. And don't forget, the TARDIS will be child minding, so behave.'

'We will!'

Rose picked up the fire extinguisher and stepped out of the TARDIS, making her way over to a wardrobe where she presumed a maid called Flora would be hiding. She opened the door, and Flora let out a yelp of fear. Rose crouched down and held her shoulders.

'It's all right. It's all right. I'm here to help. My name's Rose. It's Flora isn't it?' Rose said reassuringly.

Flora nodded. 'They came through the house. In the excitement they took the Steward and the Master, and my Lady.'

'I know. Don't worry. Me and my husband are trained for this, and there are plenty of soldiers around. I want you to stay here until I come to fetch you. Okay?'

'Yes miss,' Flora said with a nod of agreement.

'Good girl. Now, it's time for me to go to work.' Rose stood up and went to the door. She smiled at Flora and stepped into the hallway.

The two redcoats in the hallway were surprised to see the lady who had previously been dressed as a lady when she entered the bedroom, now dressed as a man in a black, paramilitary uniform and carrying a very large gun.

'All right lads?' she asked with a cheeky smile.

'Er, yes miss. All quiet,' one of the soldiers answered.

'Didn't fancy a brew then?' she said, looking at the still full mugs in their hands.

'No miss. Captains orders were to accept any beverages or food offered, but not to partake of them,' the other soldier informed her.

'Quite right too. They always told you not to drink the water when you went abroad on holiday,' Rose joked.

At that moment, two of the monks came around the corner, expecting to collect the unconscious bodies of the shoulders. The soldiers made to reach their rifles off their shoulders, and the monks moved forward to stop them.